Last year, 2011, we ran our inaugural Big Cats Safari in Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve in conjunction with leading UK wildlife artist Pip McGarry and his wife Jan. So successful was it that Pip & Jan both decided immediately they would bring a second group in 2012, which we hosted once again in our luxury mobile tented camp at the same site just off the Burrungat Plains we use for our Wildebeest Migration Safaris each year from August - October.

After the fantastic sightings we had in 2011, we had some trepidation going into year two...would it live up to the previous year? Of course, the Mara is such an exceptional reserve for the Big Cats our concerns were only fleeting...but we are always striving for improvement. Well, we need not have worried! This was the feedback we recieved from Pip & Jan after the conclusion of the safari:

A huge thank you for a fabulous safari again this year. Last year no stone was left unturned in making our safari as brilliant as possible and I half wondered beforehand whether you could achieve the same high standard again. Well not only did you achieve it, you exceeded last year's trip hands down! We had the most extra-ordinary sightings of wildlife and I know from conversations held on the way home that the rest of group had a fantastic time and they echoed my feelings about the safari. So-oooo, this is probably going to upset the hell out of you, but can we look to do the same safari again next year? I think the safari stories and photos we took are going to whet many people's appetites, I am sure word is going around to other artists on Facebook and the like.

The safari started on the 15 minute drive from the Ol Kiombo airstrip to the camp -11 lions resting in the shade of some croton bushes. With several total safari virgins on this trip, the 15 minutes took a fair bit longer, but by the time we reached camp, Pip declared he'd already taken photos that would make two excellent new paintings once he returned home. Simon Knight had been on an African safari once before, and seen three lions his whole stay, so was happy that this new trip was already a success for him!

Settled into camp, lunched and unpacked, the afternoon gamedrive started in a sudden torrential downpour, but soon we found legendary Mara lion Notch, four lionesses including our favourite, Ugly Betty, and three cubs! The aftermath of the rain resulted in some great photo opportunities with wet lions and sodden but very playful cubs.

Notch, now into his mid-teens - old by wild lion standards - has featured in numerous wildlife documentaries shot in the Mara.

Notch cautions one of his offspring with a warning snarl!

Of course, legendary big male lions, and playful cubs, could not have set the safari off on a better course, and it was a happy, elated, group of safarigoers who gathered in the Mess Tent for an elegant candle-lit dinner later that evening.

The recurrent refrain was: "How are you going to better that tomorrow?"

Little did they - or we - know what was in store!

Fortunately the rain had cleared after dinner, so coffee and Amarula liqueurs at the fireside ended the day in true safari style. It is sad how so many safari camps and lodges nowadays have done away with the true campfire - if anything having a tiny glow in an artificial "dish" on a deck raised off Mother Earth.

Our tented safari camp is designed to recreate the essential elements of the original African safari, the way the early hunter-explorers did it...though nowadays we use trucks instead of teams of a hundred or more porters to move our camp around Kenya. Of course, we have introduced modern elements like en-suite flushing toilets in each tent, but maintained the traditional bucket showers brought to your tent on demand by your personal tent steward. While we still use the traditional parrafin or kerosent hurrican lanterns of old, we have introduced solar-powered lighting inside the sleeping tents, both as a safety and comfort thing, as well as to minimise our carbon footprint as much as possible.

All meals are taken under canvas (or under the stars if the weather allows) in our Mess Tent, at a long table elegantly lit by silver or crystal candelabra and a plethora of candles. The meals are prepared the traditional way - on a campfire, in a tin box over the coals used as an oven - by our trained safari chefs. They delight in preparing anything from eggplant parmigiano, courgette risotto, profiteroles, croissants, and tasty cakes to perfectly roasted joints of meat (and of course vegetarian, gluten free, lactose free & diabetic course for those who require them) in their rudimentary kitchen. The kitchen tour at the end of the safari always raises gasps of true amazement!

Elegant candle-lit dinner tables evoke the romance of a bye-gone era.

One of two nomadic males we found crossing the plains above camp.

Early on our first morning, only a short way out of camp, we found two nomadic male lions who we'd heard advertising their presence in the night. They were quite cautious,and moving steadily out of the area...which is currently held by Notch and his four adult, and spectacular, sons and nephews - a powerful coalition of five BIG male lions!

We followed the two boys as they headed towards the swollen Talek River, which was in full flood after the rains of the past several days. But then, to our amazement, they leaped into the muddy waters and swam powerfully to the other side!

Olive yawns as we photograph from nearby.

No sooner had we moved on from the swimming lions than Phil picked up the spoor (tracks) of an adult leopard. After following briefly, he came across the well-known leopardess Olive, who has been giving us great pleasure over recent years. We knew Olive had two tiny new cubs, and hoped to follow her to the den site. We could not have imagined where it was, and what we were about to witness.

With her face bloodied from a recent and fresh kill, we knew she would be heading back to the cubs, either to suckle them, or possibly get them to follow her back to the carcass.

Then she moved down to the river banks, and sat gazing intently across the fast-flowing torrents. I chuckled to myself, and then commented: "Imagine if the cubs are the other side, and she decides to swim through the river!"

It was a raging flood...no cat, particularly a small female leopard, would do that!

Well, I've seen leopards leaping from rock to rock before, crossing rivers. But that was to save their feet from getting wet and the river was a bare trickle. For Olive to have entered the rushing waters of the flooded Talek River was a sight to behold. Incredible. Amazing. Wow, wow, wow! And then for her to bring her tiny cubs out into the open for all to see...that was something truly special.

So, how do we top the first afternoon's game drive? Hmmm...how do we top this one!?

More leopards? Done. A kill? Tomorrow! We can't do everything in one day...after all, you are here for a week!

The bloodied face of a teenage lion cub after the feast.

Early the next morningI pick up lion tracks, and follow them to where we find the pride fast asleep in a thicket. Phil & Pierre, our other two safari guides, join us for a while, but we soon tire of watching sleeping lions lie (that's how they got their name...they are always "lion" around) and move out to watch some elephants and olive baboons.

Then suddenly the baboons start alarming, frantic, and the elephants trumpet loudly. The lions are hunting! We see a small herd of zebras flash by...lions in hot pursuit, and then its over...they've got one.

We move in closer as the lionesses throttle their victim. They have several young and teenaged cubs with them and so we sit watching the feeding frenzy, marvelling at the sounds...and also the fact that the Maasai Mara is really special in March as there are so few other tourists about. We spend the whole morning with the lions as they devour the zebra...and eventually one other vehicle arrives as we are departing! A "virus-free" sighting! Exactly as our leopard the previous day had been! The Mara in March is really great.

Colin Greenhowe of the UK gets an up close and personal introduction to a cheetah who couldn't care less!

By this stage we'd seen it all...apart from cheetah. Yes, I told you we can't do it all in one or two days. You're here for six. Cheetah next on the menu. How about a cheetah chase? OK. How about in your face, on top of the vehicle? Ha ha, yes!

Interestingly, when Phil found this female cheetah there were a few other vehicles with her, but after their obligatory five-minute stop they left, and we had her all to ourselves. (I guess the drivers were worried about missing lunch.) We sat with her for at least an hour, convinced she was hungry and keen to hunt one of the nearby Tomson's gazelles. I was also pretty sure she'd looked at the roof of my 4x4 a few times, with a look I've come to know after many years in the Mara. Not all, but several cheetahs there have grown up with and around vehicles, to the extent that they simply see a 4x4 (a green one, not a white minbus) as a high feature in the landscape, a vantage point from which to scour the plains for prey. Last October a female cheetah had jumped on my roof...and I was wondering if this might be the same one.

Sure enough though, after about an hour the cheetah decided to start a stalk of a lone Tommy on the hillside below us. Unfortunately for her, she was spotted by another Thomson's ram who gave the alarm, and after a short but speedy chase she gave up. Walking back up the hill, we positioned ourselves ahead of her near a pool of water, and sure enough she obliged by coming for a drink! Watch out for paintings from Pip and Natalie Mascall in the near future!

Then, without much further ado, she strolled between our vehicles and in one bound was on top of Phil's 4x4! Extreme low-angle close-up photos were the order of the day. Pip McGarry later declared this to be the greatest experience of all his many safaris in Africa. "We';ve seen it on BBC Big Cat Diary...now we've had it happen to us. Incredible!"

So, was that all we saw? Lions, leopards and cheetahs? Mmmm, not at all. The Mara in March is teeming with game, and very much deserted by tourists. Most game drives we had the plains and our sightings to ourselves. We saw huge herds of topi, gazelles and impala. Plenty of zebras (yes, watch for McGarry & Mascall zebra paintings soon too!) and giraffes, and many of the Mara's very tolerant elephants, including a magnificent bull in musth, who gave us some really close views and a great sniff of his pungent musth cologne! All in all it was an awesome safari. Pip McGarry has already booked out a week in 2013, but we have one more week available...join us!

Well, Daryl, you are some diarist! Having my awful cough and potent cough syrup many of the days sort of blurred around, but everything you wrote brought it back crystal clear! Now I can name my "Ugly Betty" pictures! I got lots on the "wrong" side, but they tell such a story of survival in the wild. I am so glad you mentioned the big bull elephant, but you failed to mention how you called to him and gently waved your hand, how you somehow quietly drove that vehicle around to his face and how he gently and silently approached us and said hello back with his trunk, just like you moved your hand. I think you are an elephant whisperer. It is an absolutely thrilling moment I will never forget. Inter species communication. His eye nearly filled the window, it was breath taking. Also as we left the last day Mr Notch came cruising up the road! How fantastic was that? He is a fine, wise old guy, and extremely handsome. Five days after our trip I spent some time with cousins who had also gone on safari in Africa, when I told them about our experiences they said they never heard of such wonderful luck! I felt so gratified, but I think it's not just luck, you and Sharna know your terrain and you know how to work with the animals. You are both amazing hosts, I have NEVER experienced the kind of loving care and attention that we received in your camp,. My pictures are full of wonderful surprises - which is good thing. I will be back (as they say!)

What can I say! This safari was more than I could have ever have wished for. Stunning, spectacular, incredible - there are not enough suplatives to describe it! As you can see from Daryl's blog, the sightings we had were truly special, more than worthy of any wildlife documentary.
The camp was first class and the food was fantastic. The fact that I would love to go back says it all.
Thank you Daryl, Sharna, Phil and Pierre.

Wonderful pictures, you must love and feel very proud of what you are doing out there!

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Daryl & Sharna Balfour

Daryl & Sharna Balfour are among the most highly acclaimed African wildlife photographers and safari tour operators, based in Africa for most of the year, but also offering exclusive safaris too both the Arctic & Antarctic on request & by arrangement.